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Leylah Fernandez recently looked back on a much younger version of herself, ripping backhands on the tennis court back in the day as well. The Canadian star shared an old video of herself during a tennis training session as a 10-year-old.
In the video, taken back in 2012, a 10-year-old Fernandez can be seen smashing a few backhands with precision and showing great intensity on the court. The now 20-year-old was born in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, and the video was presumably taken during one of her training sessions back home.
Fernandez looked back at the decade-old video with great fondness.
"2012 what a time," Leylah Fernandez captioned the video posted on Instagram.
Little did Fernandez know back then that less than 10 years later, she would be a Grand Slam singles finalist at the US Open. The intensity, though, seems to have been there all along.
Fernandez bowed out in the second round of the 2023 Australian Open, losing to World No. 4 and reigning WTA Finals winner Caroline Garcia. The 2021 US Open finalist made it a tough battle but just could not close out two tight sets, losing 6-7(5), 5-7. Earlier, Fernandez beat the experienced Alize Cornet 7-5, 6-2 in the opening round.
After an injury-plagued 2022 season, Fernandez started her 2023 campaign at the ASB Classic in Auckland, reaching the quarterfinals there with wins over Brenda Fruhvirtova and Julia Grabher.
Leylah Fernandez thanks her parents for motivating her to pursue pro tennis career
Leylah Fernandez thanked her parents for always helping her keep the dream of becoming a top-level tennis player. Highlighting her parents' contributions, Fernandez said that they never doubted her ability to pursue tennis professionally and always motivated her with words of positivity, ensuring that she enjoyed her tennis to the fullest.
"[My parents] kept the dream for me, and that they didn't really break me down, like, with, 'No, you can't do it,'" Fernandez said in a press conference after her first-round win at the Australian Open.
"They kept giving me positive sentences, positive reinforcement so that I can keep working and keep enjoying this sport as much as I can," she expressed.
Fernandez has quite a few points to defend over the next couple of months, having won the WTA 250 Monterrey Open title last year before reaching the Round of 16 of the Indian Wells Open. The Canadian also made the French Open quarterfinals last season.
